The invention relates to an electromagnetic body-treatment device for surgically non-invasive modification of the growth repair and maintenance behavior of living tissues and/or cells within an equine or the like hoof, by a specific and selective change in electrical environment.
Applicable background is discussed at length in Ryaby, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,105,017 and in various patents having a continuation-in-part relation thereto. Reference is therefore made to said patents for background discussion. It suffices to note that, although said patents speak generally in the context of controlled modification of cellular and/or tissue growth, the primary emphasis on osteogenic applications to human beins, was initially limited to such "hopeless" cases as pseudarthroses and other non-unions.
The application of pulsed electromagnetic fields of the character indicated is being extended to veterinary applications, where impressive results are being achieved in aid of rapid recovery by horses, particularly race horses, from the kinds of bone and bone-related injury variously known as saucer fractures, damaged suspensories, splints and bucks. It is not infrequent that the third phalanges bone, within the hoof, will suffer fracture, but this region is not available for treatment with prior coil configurations, and a horse will not willingly permit attempted treatment with a device which can be kicked or destroyed or which requires connection to an external source of power.